As soon as Lily and Jay walked in, I felt around for a case file. Upon finding one, I forced the papers up to my head. I covered my face with the file, hoping desperately that Jay nor Lily would notice my actions. Please say that Polly can cover for me for the time being....
"What might this be?" Jay asked.
"W-well.... I got really angry over Anton getting hurt.... And somehow this happened. Taking out my anger on these papers actually helped, believe it or not." Polly laughed awkwardly, hoping to shrug off her peculiar behavior. She was failing. Miserably.
Suddenly interested in the case file I held up to my face, I began reading:
QS-5 details the attempted murder of-
"Why would Ghastly even keep that in here?!" I yelled, tossing the case file across the room. The stack of papers slammed against the wall before falling to the ground. Lily and Jay stared at me peculiarly.
"Chrysalis?" Lily questioned, approaching me slowly.
"O-oh.... H-hi, Lily...." I stammered, not willing to face her. I had run out on her, after all! If she knew why, she might understand. But she doesn't know, so she won't understand why I'm doing this.
"Why did you run off earlier?" Lily asked, taking a seat next to me. "You mentioned something about tomorrow...."
"Tomorrow.... Is the anniversary. Of the biggest mistake I ever made. Three years ago tomorrow, I did something horrible.... And every year when August 31st rolls around, all I can think of is what I did that day," I whispered. Memories of many cases from long ago rolled through my mind. Murders of the people I was close to. My brother's depression came to mind as well. My promise to Venus...to help him.... "Venus.... I'm sorry...."
"Huh?" Lily questioned. "What's wrong?!"
I shook my head once I got a grip on reality. "N-nothing. Just remembering what happened...."
"What happened with Venus?" Lily met my eyes, pleading for me to answer.
I sighed. "I made a promise to Venus, and I wasn't able to keep it. And that promise involved my biggest mistake."
Lily stared at me noiselessly, expecting more of an answer. But sadly, I was unable to give her a better explanation without revealing my mistake. And I didn't want her to find out. She'd hate me for not telling her sooner.
"Now, for the real reason that we came," Jay interrupted, sensing my unease. Thank gosh for Jay! Applause for Jay! He handed Polly a pair of gloves. "Could you test these for fingerprints?"
Polly nodded. She seemed just as eager to find out who had attacked Anton as I was. She pressed a few buttons on her watch. "What can I do for you, Ms. Bloom?" the watch asked. If you think it's weird, you'll get used to it. I sure have, what with my brother dating her and all. I honestly thought he'd fall for Ghastly, but then again, who knows what goes on in my whacked up mind? My mental state is questioned often, after all.
"Could you test this pair of gloves for fingerprints?" Polly questioned. She held out the gloves in front of her, preparing for the test. Red light from the watch hovered over the gloves for a few seconds.
The watch had a reply almost immediately. "The fingerprints belong to deceased Tora Yin. They're fresh, so the prints were made recently."
I gasped, hands flying to my mouth. "T-Tora was the spirit that Aoi was channeling at the time of the crime?!"
"Tora?!" Jay, Lily, and Polly exclaimed in sync. I guess they were as confused with this development as I was.
"That might explain why Tora was unavailable to Sora the night of the crime when we were visiting Anton!" Jay shouted.
"You're right!" Polly agreed.
"Sora can't control Tora's wish to kill unless she's the one channeling Tora. This means that...?!" I didn't even want to finish the sentence.
"That Tora committed yet another crime," Jay whispered, finishing for me.
"I can't believe that she did that...." Lily muttered, shaking her head in disbelief.
"This could get Ms. Taikan off the hook!" Jay exclaimed.
"If we can shoot down the witness testimony in court tomorrow, we'll be golden!" Lily grinned.
"Witness testimony...." I laughed awkwardly. Now would be the perfect time to mention my real reason for running earlier, but who's to say I'm going to?
"If you guys are done, I have a little bit of cleaning to do," Polly sighed, motioning to Ghastly's wrecked office. "I knew I'd regret trashing this place since Ghastly will never clean it no matter how much I tell him to." She shook her head before pushing the swivel chair up to its regular position.
"I'll help!" I volunteered. Lily shot me a suspicious glance, so I made up an excuse and hoped it was believable. "I did help you mess up this place, after all."
Luckily, Lily bought it. I held back a relieved sigh and began stacking papers involved with a case called ZR-8. I put them in order before placing the files back on the shelf. I found UR-1 papers scattered about soon after and ordered them in silence.
Lily and Jay walked out of the room quietly, neither willing to break the silence that hung over the messy office. I was thankful for that much. Coming up with excuses for somebody who can see through lies isn't easy, let me tell you.
Polly picked up the QS-5 files, as I had been purposely avoiding the case details. The few words I had glimpsed earlier was enough of a blast to the past. And all that those papers did was rub the mistake of August 31st in my face...especially when I rubbed the papers in my face to hide from my sister's alter ego and my partner.
"You haven't told them about what you're doing tomorrow?" Polly asked, placing the QS-5 files on the shelf.
"No. They'll figure it out soon enough. They should have larger concerns than this," I answered.
But I knew that when Jay and Lily found out, they'd take the betrayal like a stab to the heart.
--------------------------------------------
The case name is starting to make sense-aha
You find out why August 31st is so big in the second day of investigation when you discover who the traitor is. Things will make sense at that point.
And I'm being very mean to you guys this case and the witness will probably make people explode. I won't say whether its from annoyance or feels, but you'll explode when I tell you who the witness is. I'm probably going to end a chapter that way just Cruz I'm mean as heck hahaha
I like being mean to you guys.
-Digital
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Ace Attorney: Secrets Beneath Secrets
Fanfic"I can't tell you that." Those are words Lily Shield has been hearing a lot, especially from her closest friends. Too many secrets seem to be floating around her existence as well as those around her. But that's to be expected when she's trying to c...
